


Ex Machina

by Naemi



Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: #znationscience, Drama, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 19:22:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11561706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naemi/pseuds/Naemi
Summary: “I don't know, chief; I have a bad feeling about this.”





	Ex Machina

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Froday Flash Fiction Challenge's](http://fffc.livejournal.com) Little Special: Alphabet Stories. Starting with a randomly assigned letter, every sentence had to begin with the next letter in the alphabet until all were used. I took the liberty to mark the starting letters in bold so it's easier to see what I did.  
>    
> Sort of set in a near, unlikely future (from a season 2 finale standpoint).

 

“ **G** ood Lord,” Warren says. **H** ands just an inch away from the machine suddenly come to life, she stares down as if she expects the Devil—or worse—to pop out of the conglomerate of dusty wood, sharp metal, and an unidentifiable material that looks organic.

“ **I** don't know, chief; I have a bad feeling about this,” Doc says, scratching the back of his head.

“ **J** ust … everyone stand back and get ready to run.”

 **K** yanized wood rattles and creaks when the rotating gears inside the device pick up speed as if controlled by an invisible force. **L** ike fallout, dust and gore scatter in the air and come hailing down again in irregular patterns, and Warren fails to jump back fast enough to avoid it completely.

“ **M** aybe we should just get the hell out of here and forget—”

“ **N** o,” Warren and Sun Mei say simultaneously, and the latter continues. “ **O** ur mission depends on getting to this … mechanism. **P** ast it. **Q** uestionable as it may be: it's our only lead to finding Addy.”

“ **R** ight. **S** aid some weird guy with some weird accent and a fancy hat, and so it must be true.”

“ **T** he truth is what me make of it, Doc,” Warren says softly, “and most of the time, that is all we have.”

 **U** nintelligible words come past Doc's lips, but he looks Warren in the eye and nods.

 **V** apors burst from the machine and it gives a series of pops, as if something is crunched somewhere in the depths of this rotating apparatus of weird. **W** ithout further warning, the gears inside come to a screeching halt. **X** yloid rain showers the concrete floor and colors Warren's hair cherrywood-red as the outer structure implodes with a human-like groan.

“ **Y** ou okay, chief?”

 **Z** eroing in on the metal spat out before her feet, Warren nods. **A** midst the machine's debris lies a pendant that she knows well, although she hasn't seen it in a long time.

“ **B** y all things holy, is that—”

 **C** overed with wood, dust and gore, Addy's butterfly necklace lies before the group. **D** ecember light—the last errant rays of a day worthy to forget—dances over it when Warren picks it up. **E** asing it into her pocket, she turns to face her companions.

“ **F** or the record: this means nothing,” she says, but the knots in her stomach tell her differently.

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the wonderful **Moit** , who also made sure all characters were returned unharmed.
> 
> [Visit my LJ-community [Bunny Bash](http://bunnybash.livejournal.com) to leave me a prompt at any time.]
> 
> [Feedback is love.]


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